Season's End
by Yuki Seki
Summary: Future Revised #3. It's the end of summer, high school exams are looming but the 10th Gen Vongola is juggling studying with preparations for Vongola Nono's imminent arrival. Haru is learning to navigate Mafia politics and manage an intelligence network. When a death threat is leveled at the 9th, the others suspect the Trabuchet, but Haru has a feeling it's something else... 5986
1. Prologue: From the Shadows

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Good morning (at least it is in my stretch of the world) and welcome to "Season's End" the third installment in my "Future Revised" series. If you haven't already read them, the previous stories in the series are "Haru's Resolve" and "The Oncoming Storm". This one is destined to be a bit shorter than the previous two and picks up pretty much where "The Oncoming Storm" left off.

If you don't want to pick up two complete stories in the 30K+ area, a quick summary is that after returning from the future (Ten Years Later Arc), Haru wanted to do anything in her power to prevent a future like the one she'd just returned from. She found her own tutor to learn how to fight and defend herself and those she cared about. Gokudera became her partner and a tutor as well to help her navigate the Mafia world and they've also become a couple. Along the way Haru has met several other people, primarily the Hanatachi Clan and Akai (one of the members of the Clan) has become her good friend treating her as a "little sister" and also serving as a teacher. While she still has a long way to go, Haru is working diligently to carve out her place in Vongola history and help Judaime realize his goals for the Vongola Famiglia.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Akira Amano-sensei. The storyline and original characters are, as always, the products of my far too active imagination.

Thank you for taking the time to read (and review if you get a chance).

Next update will be on October 30th.

With regards,

Yuki Seki

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><p><strong>Target 00-03: From the Shadows<strong>

Silk rustled as the woman entered her office, the weak sunlight pouring through one of the curtains catching at the wings of silver in her dark hair. Bells attached to the kanzashi in her hair jingled softly as she sat at the elegant writing desk that was the central focus of the small office. She lit the lamp, letting the smell of the scented oil circulate in the room before pulling the papers that had accrued overnight in front of her. There was a new report from Namimori and she picked it up, her sources said that the syndicates in the town were having difficulty dealing with the interlopers—idly she wondered if it was a request for help. Skimming through the information, a smile curved ruby painted lips and she reached for her phone. She dialed a familiar number and waited until it was picked up.

"Sawada."

"Good morning, Sawada-san. I just had an interesting report cross my desk. If you've time, I'd like some more details."

"What kind of details?" Iemitsu Sawada questioned. "I sent you all of the particulars on the Trabuchet as per our agreement."

"It is not that Trabuchet that interest me, Sawada-san. We've already taken preventative measures—we've quite enough to juggle here in Kyoto without that particular bother," the woman said. "You have our gratitude for the photos and descriptions of the ones known as Emri and Claude. We will keep an ear to the ground on them as well and if we hear or see anything you'll be the first to know."

"You have my thanks," Iemitsu said. "If it's not the Trabuchet that interest you, what caught your eye?"

A long-nailed finger traced over the image of a girl with kanzashi in her hair. The image was grainy and had apparently been pulled from the security cameras at the Trabuchet headquarters, but there was something very familiar about the girl. "There is a girl amongst the future Decimo's group. She does not wear the ring of a Vongola Guardian, but she seems to be very close to the inner circle…" she murmured. "The girl wears kanzashi and uses Lightning Flames like another I once knew…"

"What of her?"

"I would like to test her, Sawada-san."

"Oh?"

"Might I have your permission?"


	2. Ch 1: Impending Doom

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: I am up way too early today so have a new chapter *laughs* If you'd like to keep track of time, it's roughly the beginning of August now (story time). Tanabata is generally held around July 7th and the Japanese schools generally have summer break from late July to the beginning of September according to my research (yes, I do some research even if it's fan fiction *laughs*).

Next month is Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) and I am going to be concentrating on the first book of a possible trilogy that I want to eventually get polished enough to try and publish, so there won't be a lot of fan fiction writing over the next thirty-three days. Lucky for me, I've got a bit of a buffer so this story will continue on and my readers won't have to wait a month for the next chapter.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! is the property of Akira Amano and I don't own any of it, what is mine are my original characters and this particular storyline.

I will be updating this on a bi-weekly basis (as I've done for most of my other stories). Thank you for taking the time to read my story (and review if you get a chance), I appreciate it ^_^

Next chapter will be out around 11/13/14.

After I finish up the madness of Nanowrimo I will be writing a holiday-themed fic, but I have to decide which fandom I want to write it in ^_^

Thanks again!

~ Yuki

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><p><strong>Target 01-03: Impending Doom<strong>

The cicadas burred as the summer sun climbed higher in the sky. Haru Miura could even hear them through the closed windows of the study room in the Namimori Library. Books were scattered over the table, interspersed with papers marked in various highlighted colors with colored tabs sticking out from each one.

Haru had been at the library since it opened, going over everything in detail trying to figure out how she'd only scored eighty-six on the practice test for Takanamori. A score like that could get her into Takanamori High, but it would be more likely to put her on the waiting list. That kind of score _never_ crossed Haru's desk—or at least it hadn't until the world of the Mafia collided with her academic world.

Now that things had quieted down from the conflict with the Trabuchet, Haru was determined to catch up on all the things she'd missed that put her acceptance at Takanamori in doubt. Kyoko had withdrawn from the study group at her parents' insistence and was spending a lot of time at a cram school designed to get her into one of the high-ranking schools in Okinawa where she'd be moving at the end of the school year. The pencil lead cracked as that thought swam into Haru's head and she forced herself to calm down and clicked more lead out of the mechanical pencil and set it to the paper.

In Haru's opinion, Kyoko's parents were being horribly unfair separating her from all of her friends here in Namimori. It was bad enough they were going to force her to move down to Okinawa of all places, but they'd all but forbidden Kyoko from interacting with them except at school and controlled situations. From what Chrome was saying, Kyoko's smile wasn't entirely hiding her misery, but as Kyoko always did she was moving forward and trying to keep Tsuna and the others in the dark so she didn't trouble them.

Haru sighed.

She couldn't say that she didn't understand why Kyoko's parents were doing it. If she'd had a daughter who'd formerly led a very safe, charmed life and suddenly she was getting hurt in explosions that seemed to be linked to the company she kept, she probably would do the same thing. It still didn't mean it was fair to isolate her from her friends. She and Kyoko had managed to meet up for a few excursions to go eat cake and talk, but those occasions had to be snuck in just before cram school or if Kyoko's cram school let out early.

There was a rap on the door and Haru glanced up and saw a flash of silver hair outside before it opened and Gokudera entered. "It's about time for the meeting, are you ready?" he asked.

Haru's eyes widened and her gaze flew to the clock. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize what time it was," she exclaimed and scrambled to gather all the papers and books together.

Gokudera shook his head and moved forward to help her collect everything. "That eighty-six is really bothering you isn't it?" he said.

"Wouldn't it bother you?" Haru retorted. "Mr. I-scored-ninety-five-and-didn't-even-study."

Gokudera shifted uncomfortably under her glare. "Well…I…"

"I'll be going to some remedial classes starting next week," Haru said. "I won't let that eighty-six stand. I refuse."

"Whoa, Haru—calm down…" he said, reaching out.

Haru knocked his hand away and glared up at him for a long moment before they both dissolved into laughter. They finished collecting the stuff and Gokudera shouldered Haru's bag before she could protest. "I'll help you go through some more of the problems tonight when we get home. Judaime and Yamamoto are both already in remedial courses because the administrators are worried that they'll even pass the tests to get out of middle school. How did Akai do?"

"Akai doesn't really care how she does on the exam," Haru said testily. "She already has to mess with the school records once the new school year starts in order to get in so why not put in her own scores for the exam while she's at it."

"Hasn't she been studying just as hard as the rest of you?" Gokudera frowned.

"Well, yes, but that's to keep up appearances, she's older than us you know," Haru said as they made their way out of the library. "She can't even technically get into Takanamori."

"I want to know where she gets her computer skills," Gokudera mumbled. "Do you know how much easier life would be if I could just mess with records like that? Judaime would pass with flying colors and…"

"And every single person in the entire district will know something isn't right," Haru interrupted. "Judaime's academic performance is a bit of a sensation amongst the teaching community—even my father hears about it."

"Seriously?" he asked, glancing down at her.

"Yeah," Haru said. "We just need to keep studying hard and everything will be fine."

"For you and the baseball idiot maybe," Gokudera said.

"I take it your study session with Judaime didn't go well?" Haru asked.

"Well, he got four more questions right than he did last time…" Gokudera said.

"Well that's progress at least," Haru pointed out.

Gokudera gave her a wry smile. "When that means he got fourteen questions right out of eighty-seven?"

"If he keeps progressing like that over the next few months, he should be up to at least seventy questions by the exam?" she suggested.

"Ever the optimist," Gokudera said, lightly bopping her on the head as they paused at the intersection to wait for the crossing signal.

"I have full faith that Judaime will find a way to pull through," Haru said firmly and Gokudera laughed as the signal changed.

They crossed the street and turned towards Take Sushi their hands finding each other's automatically as they moved through the light crowds on the sidewalk. It had been decided that keeping up a meeting between the Vongola Famiglia would be a good idea even if the only thing to report was that nothing was happening. Haru, for one, was glad of the reprieve of excitement in the mafia world so that she could focus more on her studies, on her growing relationship with Gokudera, and on expanding her knowledge and contacts to work on establishing a true intelligence network.

"Have you had a chance to do much more practice?" Gokudera asked.

Haru nodded. "While you've been busy helping Judaime and Yamamoto with some of their work, I've been training at the Broken Butterfly since we don't have a training range that I'm aware of anyway. The ring is becoming easier to manage and I don't feel as drained at the end of the training sessions. I'm not sure how well I'd do with a ring like yours."

Gokudera shrugged, Haru knew that he'd been doing a lot of training too, usually when insomnia struck and that had been happening a lot lately. She'd actually come down in the middle of a few of his sessions and asked to train with him a little bit, but she couldn't keep up with the 'big boys' yet.

Their names echoed down the sidewalk and their hands immediately parted as they turned around to greet Tsuna and Yamamoto. They weren't keeping their relationship a secret, but it wasn't something they really talked about either. Reborn was riding on Yamamoto's shoulder as the Rain Guardian and future Vongola Boss reached them.

"Class ran late?" Gokudera asked.

"No, the teacher kept me for thirty minutes longer because he thought I was sleeping during the main session," Tsuna said. "I was just trying to see the board."

"And you?" Haru asked.

Yamamoto gave her a sheepish grin and ran his hand through his tousled brown hair. "I was actually sleeping," he admitted.

"Neither of you are going to pass the Namimori High exam much less the Takanamori High exam like that," Haru scowled, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at the two.

"Maa, maa, Haru…" Yamamoto said holding his hands up.

"Think about your futures," Haru continued, glaring at both of them. "Even if you plan to play professional baseball," a finger stabbed at Yamamoto and then moved over to Tsuna, "and even if you will be the most powerful man in the mafia world you _need_ to have a decent education under your belt!"

Things had become easier between Haru and the other Vongola over the past three weeks since their victory over the Trabuchet. While there were still times where they seemed to forget that she was actually capable of helping, but for the most part things were good. One of the things that helped restore her spirits was the return to the normalcy in their interactions. Things had changed since she was now a "fighting" member of the Vongola—that was kind of a given—but she felt more at ease now than she had when she first stepped into "active service".

"Well, we're all here now, let's go inside," Reborn said and jumped down off of Yamamoto's shoulder.

"Is Sasagawa-san going to make it today?" Haru asked as she followed them inside.

"He said he might be a little late, Kyoko-chan was doing some shopping and their parents insist he accompany her and bring her back to the house before coming here," Tsuna sighed heavily. "I wish I knew what was going on with Kyoko-chan, she only talks to me at school and isn't returning any calls or texts, but she said she wasn't mad at me when I asked…"

Haru's turned her attention to pulling out her reports for the meeting and the boys didn't seem to notice that she was a little too intent on what she was doing. Haru knew what was going on with Kyoko, but she also knew that her best friend didn't want to tell Tsuna what was happening yet. Haru wondered idly if Kyoko was still trying to convince her parents to let her stay in Namimori and hoping she'd change their mind by the time the school year ended.

Gokudera watched her for a moment and then leaned down. "If you have answers you'd tell me, right?" he murmured.

Haru jumped guiltily and Gokudera's eyes narrowed. The brunette took a deep breath and responded to him in a voice that wouldn't carry beyond them. "I made a promise, Gokudera," she said softly. "I can't break it. It's not something that's dangerous to the Famiglia. Please, trust me?"

Gokudera eyed her for a long moment and then sighed. "All right, as long as it doesn't put Judaime in any danger," he said, also keeping his voice down so it didn't carry to Tsuna who was talking with Yamamoto and his dad.

Her attention was diverted as she considered Tsuyoshi Yamamoto and Haru tapped her lips thoughtfully. There was a niggling feeling in the back of her mind that Yamamoto's dad knew a whole lot more about the world they lived in than he let on, but she hadn't found a convenient moment to ask him or investigate it for herself.

As if feeling her regard, the sushi chef glanced in her direction and cocked an eyebrow in question and she quickly shook her head and turned her attention to the reports.

Ryohei finally arrived thirty minutes later after the first platter of sushi had been consumed and they settled down to discuss business. Haru's reports were much the same as they'd been the last two meetings—no sign of the Trabuchet, Claude and Emri may as well have vanished into thin air, and there was nothing else really going on that she'd heard about. Aside from that she'd finally established a meeting time with the Familia that had been behind the Trabuchet house they'd imprisoned Kyoko in and she would be meeting those leaders in the next week or so.

Once they'd discussed a few other matters, everyone began to gather their things and Reborn cleared his throat. "Tsuna has an announcement before we separate for the day," he said.

Haru stopped what she was doing and turned her attention to the Judaime who looked very uncomfortable. Finally, the Vongola Decimo took a deep breath. "According to the message I received from my father, Kudaime will be on Japanese shores around August 31st. Between now and then we are tasked with making sure everything here in Namimori is under control."

"Haru hasn't picked up anything in the intelligence network to say that there are any threats," Gokudera said. "It should, theoretically, be easy…"


	3. Ch 2: Blood Red Ink

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **And so it begins. Welcome to chapter two of "Season's End". Not much to say, I've got something like 10,000 words I need to write to catch up to my goal for Nanowrimo so I'll keep it short ^_^

**Katekyo Hitman Reborn!** doesn't belong to me it's the property of Akira Amano. The storyline, original characters, and such are mine.

Thank you for taking time to read (and review) if possible ^_^

Next update will be November 27th (or thereabouts since that's Thanksgiving here).

Please enjoy the story.

~ Yuki

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><p><strong>Target 02-03: Blood Red Ink<strong>

Haru checked over her appearance in the full length mirror in the women's restroom, smoothing the skirt of her brand new suit carefully. Reborn had presented her with the box that contained the suit the night before saying that if she was going to represent the Vongola, she needed to look the part. Traditionally, she was supposed to have an escort for this sort of thing, but Gokudera had gotten caught up in something with Tsuna and Haru couldn't reschedule the meeting to accommodate the change. She took a deep breath and checked her kanzashi and ran her thumb along the back of her ring and then stepped out.

"That's where you were."

Haru jumped and turned to see Yamamoto leaning against the wall and blinked. "Yamamoto?"

"Reborn sent me," he said, taking the briefcase out of her hand.

Takeshi Yamamoto was also dressed in a suit and looked oddly comfortable in it considering Haru didn't usually see him in anything but his baseball uniform or a casual variation on the Namimori Middle uniform. He carried the case for his baseball bats on his shoulder and Haru was pretty sure Shigure Kintoki was in there as well. "So, you're meeting up with that group that owned the house behind where they kept Kyoko?" Yamamoto asked.

"Yes," Haru replied and quickly explained everything that was going on.

Yamamoto nodded as he listened. The two made their way down the hall towards the conference room where she was meeting the representatives of the Hermosillo Familia. Haru hesitated for a moment and he placed a hand on her shoulder. "We're a team. I've got your back, no matter what," he said.

Haru nodded and knocked politely on the door and heard the call for her to enter.

There were five men and a woman already at the conference table and Haru bowed to them all politely. "Good afternoon, I am Miura Haru," she introduced herself. "Please treat me kindly."

"I expected you to bring more people with you," the woman, Victoria Hermosillo, current head of the Japanese branch of the Hermosillo Familia, observed. "Is one person really enough protection if something were to go wrong, Miura-san?"

It took all of Haru's willpower to keep her expression still, but she didn't miss the narrowing of Yamamoto's eyes in her peripheral. "My associate is Yamamoto Takeshi-san, Tenth Generation Rain Guardian of the Vongola Famiglia," Haru stated calmly.

"What of the fox that always accompanies you?" the woman frowned.

Haru scrambled to figure out who the woman was referring to and finally settled on one possible answer. "This is a meeting between the Vongola Famiglia and the Hermosillo Familia," Haru said. "Isn't it protocol to keep meetings like this between the Families involved instead of bringing in outsiders?"

…Not that Haru considered Akai an outsider and she sent a silent apology to her friend and hoped that she would forgive her for the less-than-respectful reference…

"Is it customary for the great Vongola Famiglia to send teenagers to an adult meeting?" Victoria sneered. "Don't you have school exams to be studying for?

There was a whirring sound and the panel of the table in front of Haru opened and a chair emerged with a suit-clad toddler sipping espresso. "It is customary for the Vongola Famiglia to send those who are most qualified for the particular meeting," Reborn said.

Leon moved around the brim of his fedora and watched the leader of the Japanese faction of the Hermosillo Familia with buggy eyes.

Victoria seemed to shudder back from the chameleon and one of the Japanese men at her back moved to her side and leaned down and whispered something in her ear. Victoria's eyes widened and she regarded the toddler across the table. "You are Reborn?" she asked slowly.

"That is what I'm called, yes," the legendary hitman said. "I am also here to assure you that Haru Miura is the representative of the Vongola Decimo in these particular negotiations and she is fully backed by the Vongola Famiglia."

Haru kept her irritation hidden; she shouldn't need Reborn to validate her claim as representation for the Vongola Famiglia. Yamamoto's hand touched her shoulder briefly and she glanced up and nodded. "Thank you Reborn-san," she said. "Now, Hermosillo-san, let's start our conversation. Three days ago I had a report delivered by courier to your residence and you agreed to meet with me here to discuss the information inside. It's true that I am still a teenager and that I have high school exams to study for. However, I've taken time out of my schedule to speak to you because as a representative of the Vongola Famiglia. I feel it is good practice to establish good relations with other Families that reside here in Namimori as well as Japan in general."

In addition to studying for her high school exam to beat the irritating eighty-six, she'd also been studying various aspects of Mafioso politics and what little information she could find on intelligence networks. She been staying up far too late or getting up far too early to video conference with people around the world in order to get the tutoring that had been arranged for her. Reborn had also generously given some of his time to go over things with her as well.

Haru accepted the documents that Yamamoto handed her and regarded the older woman from across the table. "Shall we begin?"

Victoria Hermosillo looked taken aback by Haru's calmness for a moment before composing her own face into calm. "Of course, Miura-san," she said.

Haru allowed herself a small smile and they settled into the talks.

It was over three hours later when they finally left the conference room and Haru held her head high and kept her posture until they'd exited the building and moved across the street before letting the confident façade drop. "Are you all right, Haru?" Yamamoto frowned.

Haru nodded. "I'm fine," she said, though her voice was fainter than she wanted.

"You did well for your first negotiations, Haru," Reborn said. "There were a few rough spots, but you made a good showing for yourself. I wouldn't consider this alliance in the bag yet though."

Haru nodded. "She was still dancing around with her words at the end of the meeting," she said and then she turned to Yamamoto. "Thank you for coming with me today. Having you there helped."

Yamamoto smiled. "That's what team mates do," he said, "even if I was the pinch hitter. I've got practice, so I'd better go."

"All right, thank you again," Haru smiled.

The baseball player waved and jogged off in the opposite direction.

"Overall, it was better that it was Yamamoto," Reborn said. "He keeps his head better than Gokudera. That's why I sent Tsuna off to train with Gokudera."

"You arranged for Gokudera to get busy?" Haru blinked.

"Gokudera is hot-headed and impulsive. He doesn't always think things through before he acts. He likely would have been dropping dynamite within the first three sentences," Reborn said. "Yamamoto at least considers the scope of the game before making his play. That is the difference between Rain and a Storm."

Haru considered Reborn's words and then nodded slowly. "I think, in time, Gokudera will be very good in those situations, but right now…" she trailed off.

Reborn nodded. "I see you understand."

Haru felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and pulled it out, turning to apologize to Reborn for the interruption but the former Arcobaleno was nowhere to be found. She shrugged and answered. "This is Miura."

"Haru?"

Haru blinked at the familiar voice, she hadn't recognized the number that popped up on the caller ID. "Gokudera?" she queried.

"Yeah, I dropped my fucking phone and it was eaten by a crocodile while I was with Judaime. I don't have the money to replace it yet so I had to call via public phone," he said. "Where are you now? We're back and I know you said something about grocery shopping today."

"Ah, currently I am about a four blocks from where we had our meeting so, Eighth and Main, I think?" Haru said and glanced at the signs as she came up to them. "Sorry, Ninth. I can meet you at our usual grocery?"

"Sounds good," Gokudera said. "I'll be there in a bit."

Haru hung up the phone and then belatedly realized exactly what Gokudera had said and then giggled. It showed just how much things had changed over the past two and a half years since she first met Reborn and Tsuna and tried to challenge Tsuna. How many people just accepted "my phone was eaten by a crocodile" and continued on with their conversation? The ridiculous had turned into common place since she'd wound up tangled with the Vongola Famiglia.

She arrived at the grocery store and checked the time. She probably still had a few minutes. Reaching into her purse she pulled out the grocery list and went over it quickly, adding a couple things to it and then putting it away before pulling out the small notebook she had scribbled down study problems to look over while she waited.

"The fifth part of the equation is wrong Haru; you didn't calculate step three right."

She jumped and glanced up at Gokudera who'd somehow managed to sneak up behind her and look over her shoulder at what she was looking at. "What, I could have sworn…" Haru began, eyes moving up to the third step.

"You're off by about .03 and while it's not a big deal there, when you hit the fifth things start unraveling if you don't have it," Gokudera said.

Haru hauled out the calculator she had with her and refigured the equation and found that he was right and sighed. "How did I miss that one?" she mumbled.

"We can go over the stuff you have in that book when we get back home if you want?" he suggested. "All the studying in the world won't help if you don't have the right answers to start with."

Haru snapped the book closed and nodded. "I have a few more things I need to add to it anyway," she said. "Shall we?"

Gokudera nodded and she dropped the book back into her bag and her fingers entwined with Gokudera's as they entered the grocery store.

The exited the store with groceries in hand and made their way back home and Gokudera was startled to realize that Haru's house had become 'home'. He glanced down at the brunette who'd shifted her bag to pull out her study guide again, trusting him to keep her from running into people unnecessarily as her brown eyes studied the material contained in the book. As if feeling his regard, she glanced up and cocked her head in question. "Is something wrong, Gokudera?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No, want me to carry the other bag?"

"It's okay, I've got it. I won't ever let it be said that Haru Miura doesn't carry her share," she stated.

They wound their way to the house and Gokudera input the security code to open the gate and the two passed through and headed up to the house. Haru shoved the book into her bag and unhooked her keys from her purse and went to open up the door and froze.

Gokudera didn't realize that she'd stopped and ran into her, his quick hands the only thing that steadied her and kept them both from falling down in the middle of the yard and scattering their groceries. "Haru…what…" he trailed off as Haru's bag of groceries was shoved into his hands.

The girl took two quick steps and tugged the piece of paper nailed to the door carefully. "Remind me to get a hammer and yank that later," she said distractedly.

Gokudera put the grocery bags down. "What is that?" he asked.

Haru showed him the letter with her named etched in elegant calligraphy on the front in blood red ink.

"What the hell is that?" Gokudera growled.

"Let's get the groceries inside and we'll find out," Haru said.

"Wait before you go in," Gokudera said. "Someone might be waiting…let me check."

Haru scowled up at him and he glared down at her. "I still know more about this stuff than you do, stupid woman," he stated.

Haru was almost offended by his reference to her, but there was something behind the words that softened it and she decided to forgive him—mostly. "Haru is not stupid," she retorted.

That response drew a chuckle from Gokudera, but his expression quickly shifted and dynamite dropped into his hand as he went to look around the house first. Haru glanced over the door handle and then reached out and lightly tested it—it was still locked and there wasn't any sign of forced entry. The only way they could have gotten in here was if they had a key and the only copies that existed were with her and with her father in London. She hadn't given Gokudera a copy of the key because they were either together or if she was running later, he could stay with Tsuna or go back to his apartment.

"All clear so far," Gokudera announced coming around the opposite side of the house.

"No evidence of forced entry here either," Haru said and slipped her key into the lock and turned it.

The door opened and Gokudera dashed in first and Haru collected the groceries they'd set on the step and moved to the kitchen put them down. She locked the door again and was putting up groceries when Gokudera came back down and announced that it was all clear. Haru nodded and washed the rice setting up the rice cooker for tonight's dinner and put the other perishables away.

"What's it say?" Gokudera asked.

"I haven't looked yet," Haru said. "I'd rather get this stuff put up first because if we have to go running off to figure something else out I don't want it to have to put it up when we get back."

"Then let me…" he began, moving to reach for it.

Haru snatched it from the counter where she laid it and glared at him. "It's addressed to me," she said. "I will read it in a moment."

"Fine," Gokudera snarled and whirled away, "but if it puts Judaime in danger…"

"If I was worried it was about Judaime, I would have opened it the second we saw it," Haru stated.

The rest of the groceries went away in less than five minutes and Haru moved back to the table and settled down to open it. Gokudera had stormed into the other room, his impatience radiating off him in a dark aura. Silently, Haru opened the letter and the demolitionist came into the room summoned by the rustle of paper.

Haru skimmed over the blood red writing inside and her eyes flew to Gokudera. "Judaime isn't in danger…"

"Then what…"

"_To the Honorable Haru Miura._

_There are three weeks before the venerated Vongola Nono returns to Japanese shores. When he steps off the plane in Narita, there will be a gunshot to his head unless you find me first. You will find all the clues that you need if you look correctly. I hope to see you before then._"

"What the hell…" Gokudera mumbled staring at the words in bewilderment.

"It's a very formal letter telling me that if I don't find the writer of this letter before Kudaime comes, he'll be killed," Haru said, it took every bit of control she had to keep her voice level.


	4. Ch 3: Following the Trail

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate and for those who don't, I hope your November went/is going well. It's hard to believe we're so close to the end of 2014 already, feels like yesterday I was just putting out the first part of Oncoming Storm (that happened in February-ish I think) and now I'm up to chapter three of the follow-up. This one isn't generating as much commentary as some of the others, but I'm not sure if it's bad or if everyone is ridiculously busy with finals, the holidays, and everything else going on about this time of year. At any rate, getting this up today so I make sure it's up on time ^_^

KHR isn't mine, it's Akira Amano's, but the original characters, storylines, etc. are creations of mine.

Hope you have a spectacular weekend, next update will be around December 11th.

Thank you for taking the time to read (and review if you get a chance), I appreciate it ^_^

Take care!

* * *

><p><strong>Target 03-03: Following the Trail<strong>

"It's got to be the Trabuchet! Who else would mess with the Ninth? Especially after that bull shit they just finished pulling."

Gokudera's snarled words echoed through the mostly empty restaurant and Haru sighed inwardly. It had been like this since the letter arrived yesterday until just before they convened an emergency meeting during Take Sushi's prep time. No matter what she said or how many things she pointed out, the Vongola Storm Guardian would not be swayed. Ryohei nodded firmly, fully in accord with Gokudera and the others seemed to be leaning towards that conclusion as well. Tsuna and Reborn seemed to be nodding in agreement as well and Haru's breath expelled in a frustrated sound.

"What is it Haru?" Reborn asked.

"The stupid woman doesn't agree with me," Gokudera snapped.

Things had been a bit strained over the past twenty-four hours and Haru knew it was because Gokudera was chomping at the bit to kick someone's ass, anyone's ass it seemed at this point. She'd given up trying to talk sense into him about 2 AM the previous night and had stomped up to her own room and slammed the door.

"What do you think then, Haru?" Reborn asked.

"We haven't seen or heard anything about the Trabuchet since their headquarters was leveled," Haru said, "and I hate to say this, but they are not Japanese."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Gokudera demanded. "The Vongola are an Italian Famiglia. We're not Japanese either!"

Haru's finger tapped on the paper in front of her. "Most foreigners wouldn't be able to do this. The actual handwriting itself is elegant with the added flourishes of someone who has practiced Japanese Calligraphy for a long time. And while yes, the Trabuchet may have someone that practiced amongst their people—it's not really their style. Think about it!"

"I am thinking about it," Gokudera retorted, "and there isn't anyone else who would do something like this!"

"There isn't?" Haru asked coolly. "Tell me how many times we knew a new enemy before they attacked. If it makes you feel better, please do explore the avenue of the Trabuchet. I'm going to look elsewhere."

She collected her things and put them in her bag with precise movements. She really didn't have time for something like this to come up now—she had exams to study for, but she couldn't let something happen to the Vongola Boss.

"Haru, calm down," Tsuna said. "There's something else about the letter that's bothering you, isn't there?"

Haru jumped at Tsuna's observation and then nodded. "The way it's written sounds more like a challenge to me than an actual threat towards Kudaime," she said.

"What about that Familia we met yesterday?" Yamamoto suggested.

"The Hermosillo Familia?" Haru repeated and settled back down in her chair as she thought for a moment. "No, trying to take the Vongola Boss isn't a risk that Victoria Hermosillo or her boss would take at this point in time. In the future I wouldn't necessarily put it past them, but right now…they don't have the power to counter the Vongola assault. The paper, the flourishes on the writing, and the language it's written in has an almost 'Japanese aristocrat' feel to it. One of the other Japanese families may be behind it."

"Then start there, Haru," Tsuna said. "Yamamoto, go with Haru as backup. Gokudera, you and I will investigate the possibility of the Trabuchet. Oniisan, please keep Kyoko safe until we figure out what's going on."

The white-haired boxer looked like he was about to object, but then he nodded sharply. "I always do," he said.

Tsuna nodded and glanced around the table. "Let's get this over with," he said.

They exited the shop after thanking Yamamoto's father.

"Baseball idiot."

Haru and Yamamoto paused at Gokudera's growl and Yamamoto turned to look at the silver-haired demolitionist.

"If anything happens to her, I'll kill you," Gokudera promised.

Yamamoto chuckled. "Don't worry," he said. "She's a teammate, I'll be there."

"You better be."

Gokudera's glare turned to her. "Don't do anything stupid, Haru," he said.

Haru puffed her cheeks out in irritation for a moment and then took a deep breath. "The same applies to you," she retorted. "I'll text if I find anything."

"Same," Gokudera said.

They nodded and parted ways, Haru automatically heading for the Underground.

"He's going to have to be blindfolded if you plan to use that entrance."

Akai's voice startled Haru and her eyes flew to her dark-haired friend who emerged from the crowd. It took Haru a moment to recognize her as she was dressed in a short, red plaid skirt, a ripped up band shirt that fell off her shoulder, and a pair of heavy black boots that jingled when she walked. "I thought you were busy," Haru said. "You said you'd be gone most of summer vacation to take care of the stuff you needed to so you could concentrate on school."

"I got an early reprieve," Akai said. "Madame Cho sent Sakura to take over what I was doing and gave me orders to return to Namimori immediately. Has something new happened?"

"Kudaime will be visiting the week of the thirty-first," Haru said.

"Well, we knew he was going to come at some point," Akai said. "It's not really a reason to summon me back…did negotiations with the Hermosillo Familia not go well?"

"Those are still in process," Haru said. "We'll be meeting again in a week or so."

"But no immediate threats?" Akai inquired.

Haru shook her head. "She asked about you, wondering why you weren't accompanying me."

"It's Vongola business. I'm not Vongola, my little sister just is," Akai stated.

"That's what I told her," Haru replied.

"Then why…" Akai trailed off.

"Yesterday, this was nailed to the door when Gokudera and I got back to my house," Haru said, extracting the letter and handing it over.

"Blindfolded?" Yamamoto questioned finally able to get in a word edgewise.

Haru glanced at him and then back to Akai.

"Unless Madame Cho approves otherwise, everyone gets blindfolded," Akai stated. "Don't worry; you're with Haru and me. Once we get to our main destination, the blindfold will be removed. There's not a whole lot of chance that someone is going to attack during the first part of the trek. Now that I think about it, you may want to start figuring out how to get to your own entrance into the Underground, Haru. The Vongola have a machine shop down there and they can probably give you their entrance. We've just been taking our entrance because that's usually where you're going. The Vongola's presence isn't as strong Underground, they're more everywhere else."

Haru looked up at Yamamoto. "I'm sorry I have to go by the rules," she said.

"It's no problem," Yamamoto said.

They neared the entrance and Akai asked Yamamoto to lean down a bit so she could put the blindfold in place and he obliged. They made their way to the entrance and Haru triggered the mechanism and the three ducked inside, closing it right afterwards. Akai pulled one of the flashlights out of the supply cabinet immediately to their right as they entered and they made their way through the narrow stairwell, Haru following Yamamoto. As soon as they were out of the passage, Akai reached up and pulled the blindfold away.

Yamamoto's eyes ran over the noisy concourse and he glanced down at Haru. "This is the Underground?" he asked.

She nodded. "I've never done anything down here except go to the shop," she said. "Dani said that you could buy anything and everything down here you could imagine if you had the money and knew where to look. There's a lot of Families that have places down here and there's kind of a loose agreement down here that you don't assault another Family though if there's a war between the Families it goes out the window and you have to hope that you can stay out of whatever disagreement happens to be cropping up."

"This way," Akai said, catching their attention. "If you want to visit the machinist's shop after we're done here, it's that way about a block."

Yamamoto shifted his bat bag on his shoulder and they followed Akai to the Broken Butterfly. The bell rang and Kenta glanced up from the manga he was reading at the counter. "You're back early, Akai," he noted.

"I got an early summons," Akai said. "Is Madame Cho in?"

At Kenta's nod, Akai vanished into the 'Employees Only' entrance behind the counter leaving Haru and Yamamoto to wait.

Kenta's eyes went to the dark-haired man behind Haru. "You're not Gokudera," he noted.

"This is Yamamoto Takeshi," Haru introduced him.

"Nice to meet you," Yamamoto said.

"Does Madame Cho know you're bringing a stranger to the shop?" Kenta frowned.

"We followed all the procedures," Haru stated. "He didn't see the entrance."

"It seems like we're getting way too entwined with the Vongola," Kenta frowned, "could be bad for business."

"What do you mean?" Haru asked.

"Ah…nothing."

Kenta suddenly became very busy with something else and Haru scowled. "Kenta…" she began.

"It's nothing, Miura-san," Kenta said. "Please wait until my sister gets back with word from Madame Cho. We got some new stuff in, if you want to look. If you see anything you want to buy let me know."

Haru sighed, she wasn't going to get anything else out of him and she obligingly moved over to the new displays. Yamamoto wandered the shop looking around at the various items. "It's not stuff you'd normally think about when you think about the Mafia is it?" he noted quietly, coming up behind Haru.

"It depends on your style of fighting," Haru said and pointed out a few items. "A lot of the shop's patrons tend towards ninjutsu and various forms affiliated with it. That's a lot of what I've learned over the past year or so, but I have a long way to go still."

Yamamoto was quiet for a long time and Haru looked at him curiously. "Is there something on your mind, Yamamoto?"

"Why did you really decide to get into this?" he asked. "It's caused a lot of problems hasn't it?"

"I want to revise the future," Haru said. "I already said something like that a while ago. I will do anything within my power to make sure that future doesn't come to pass. To try and make sure that no one loses someone that's dear to them."

Yamamoto's face was still at her words and Haru figured he was thinking about his dad whom had been killed in the future when the Millefiore Famiglia was hunting the Vongola. She touched his arm lightly summoning him from the dark memory. "We're going to make sure that doesn't happen," she said firmly.

Before Yamamoto could respond, Akai emerged into the shop and called them over. "Madame Cho is in the conference room with Nakayama. Come along."

The two Vongola followed Akai through the door and to the conference room. Nervousness clawed at her stomach, she wasn't sure if Madame Cho was really okay with her bringing another member of her Famiglia down here. Gokudera had been grudgingly accepted, but Kenta's observation bothered her and she clenched a hand in the folds of her skirt. What had he meant by 'it could be bad for business'?

Akai opened the door and Haru entered first followed by Yamamoto. "I apologize for the intrusion, Madame Cho," Haru said.

The thirteenth Boss of the Hanatachi Clan glanced up from the paper on her desk and shook her head. "You may be Vongola, but you're still Clan," she said, "though one would request you let us know more than two minutes in advance if you're bringing a stranger here."

"I'm Gokudera's pinch hitter," Yamamoto said. "Tsuna needed him for something else so he sent me with Haru."

Madame Cho waved off the teenager's explanation. "It's fine, the warning was just for future reference. Please come take a seat. Nakayama-kun has already come up with some possibilities for this new threat."

Haru's eyes shot to the dark-haired Japanese boy who gave her a charming smile. "Your safety is my highest priority, Lady Haru," Yukihiro Nakayama teased, bowing in her direction.

Haru was momentarily startled by the comment—Nakayama didn't usually say such things to her. "You're in good company today, Miura-san," Yukihiro continued. "We cased the area around your house and no one apparently saw anything the day that letter arrived."

"Our house has a high wall and if the person showed up around midmorning most of the neighbors are at work and Amihara-san's favorite drama is on so she's not watching out the window like usual," Haru said.

Akai had kept the letter after Haru presented it to her and it was sitting in the middle of the table between Madame Cho and Nakayama. "This writing isn't something any of the barbarians could come up with," Nakayama said. "I assume you've already reached that conclusion, Miura-san?"

Haru nodded. "We actually came to see if there were any of the Japanese Clans in the area who used similar methods," she said. "The way it's worded is also bothering me?"

"Because of the formality?" Yukihiro asked.

She shook her head. "No. The actual way it's phrased," she replied. "It doesn't really sound like whoever it is wants to actually threaten the Kudaime. '_You will find all the clues that you need if you look correctly. I hope to see you before then._' It sounds more like a challenge…directed at me…"

"Do you know of anyone who would challenge you like that?" Madame Cho inquired.

Haru shook her head. "It seems almost like something Dani would have directed at me while she was my teacher, but she's still in Vendicare as far as I know…" she said.

"She is," Madame Cho confirmed. "We checked on Shirokaia first—if they're offered enough money the Vindice will let anyone leave Vendicare as evidenced by Mukuro Rokudo's presence in the future you saw."

"Are there any Japanese Clans with an aristocratic background that may have a stake in things going on in Namimori recently?" Haru asked.

"There's a few," Yukihiro said. "The Mizuki Clan in Sapporo, the Ishida Clan in Kyoto, and the Minamoto Clan in Tokyo itself come to mind first. Though I am not sure what any of them would accomplish by challenging you. You're just a small fish in a much larger sea…"

"If one of them feels she presents a future threat, it makes more sense to come after her now," Akai noted, "but why threaten Kudaime? The Judaime is already in town and is much easier to get to…"

"Who knows?" Madame Cho said. "That's something Miura-san will have to figure out for herself. Check in with Kenta on your way out, he'll have some information on all the Clans Nakayama-kun has pinpointed. You may want to start your search there…"

Haru knew a dismissal when she heard it and collected the note and bowed to the Clan Lead and the young intelligence officer. "Thank you for your assistance," she said.

They exited the conference room and Haru churned the events over in her mind. They stopped in the main shop and Kenta presented a thumbdrive to Haru. "I was told to give this to you on your way out," he said.

"Thank you, Kenta," she smiled.

"Next time you come in alone I have something to show you," Kenta added, half-glaring at Yamamoto.

"Kenta…" Haru began.

"It's something only members of the Hanatachi can see for now," he said.

"She's a Vongola," Akai reminded her brother.

"She was Hanatachi first," Kenta said. "See you later."

Haru exited the shop.

"The Vongola Machine Shop is this way," Akai said, gesturing. "Want me to show you the way?"

"It couldn't hurt," Yamamoto said cheerfully. "We may need this place at some point."

"Madame Cho is in on it," Haru announced quietly as they turned down another street, "and maybe Nakayama-san too."

"What?" Akai exclaimed. "Madame Cho wouldn't threaten the Kudaime!"

Haru looked up at her friend. "No, she wouldn't, but she knows who's behind it and that it isn't an actual threat."

"So it's a challenge?" Yamamoto asked.

Haru nodded slowly. "Someone in one of those clans that Nakayama-san listed is challenging me," she said. "He came up with those names far too quickly."

"Interesting…" Yamamoto murmured. "So what are you going to do, Haru?"

"Part of the puzzle is in this drive," Haru said. "I should try and talk Father into getting me my own laptop sooner…assuming I even make it into Takanamori at this point…I don't have time for this!"

"You have a week before those classes we're taking start up," Akai said. "Maybe if we work at it, we can have the problem solved by then."

"_We're_ taking?" Haru repeated.

"Well, I'm back in town anyway, might as well maintain appearances," Akai grinned. "I am, after all, a junior high student struggling to get into a high end high school to further my education… Ah! Here we are."

They stopped outside of a shop that had the Vongola crest hidden in its logo and Yamamoto opened the door to let the girls precede him. Akai shook her head and stepped back. "I'm going to go to Haru's house and shake the bushes a bit more and see if anything falls out."

"We already went over everything yesterday and this morning before we met up with the others at Take Sushi," Haru frowned.

Akai grinned. "I've probably shaken more bushes than you so I might find something else and fresh eyes never hurt. Besides, this is Vongola Territory and I'm not invited, I'd rather not cause problems."

"But—" Haru began.

Akai shook her head again and left the Rain Guardian and Haru to their own devices. Haru sighed and then turned to Yamamoto. "I guess it's just us from here," she said.

"I'll keep you safe, I promised," Yamamoto smiled and they entered the shop.

The bell rang and a boy with blond hair dressed in an olive green coverall emerged from the back, a stick protruding from his mouth. "Spanner?" Yamamoto gaped.

"Yo," the boy mechanic said. "I didn't know you'd be down here today. Did you need something? The boss is in Italy right now so I'm minding the shop."

"We'd heard there was a Vongola enclave down here, but hadn't actually gotten around to finding it," Haru said.

"Ah, then welcome," Spanner said. "So you didn't need anything today?"

He sounded almost disappointed and Haru thought for a moment. "I don't suppose you have a cheap laptop do you?" she asked. "One I can use for Vongola business so I don't have to run a security risk by using my Father's computer anymore?"

"Depends on what you mean by cheap," Spanner replied. "I'm surprised you don't have a laptop already all things considered…"

"My father promised me one when I start high school in the spring, my old one ate itself a while ago," Haru said.

"Ate itself?" Spanner repeated, his green eyes lighting up. "Wanna bring it in and I'll see if I can do anything with it? We don't have any good laptops in stock currently, but the boss can't get angry if I use stuff from the recycling pile to fix yours…"

Haru looked considering and then nodded. "Sure, why not? How do we get down here?"

"Oh, you don't know?" Spanner asked. "How did you get down here then?"

"Umm…" Haru hesitated.

"Doesn't matter how you got down here. Here I'll show you how to get back up though I'm surprised Yamamoto doesn't already know…" Spanner said.

"Huh?" Yamamoto blinked.

"It's in the yard of the dojo behind your dad's shop you know," Spanner said patiently. "How come you haven't found it yet?"

"It's near the dojo?" Yamamoto gaped.

"Well, yes, here, I'll show you…" Spanner said. "Let me lock the shop."


	5. Ch 4: The Lotus Clip

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Hi there! Here's chapter four. I hope you enjoy it.

Next update will be somewhere around 12/25/14 (though it may be uploaded the day before or the day after due to the holiday).

Thank you for reading (and reviewing if you get a chance)!

Take care!

~ Yuki

* * *

><p><strong>Target 04-03: The Lotus Clip<strong>

Akai was sitting on Haru's doorstep when the brunette finally made her way home. She'd parted ways with Yamamoto at the dojo after emerging from the Underground and he'd headed to practice while she headed straight home. "Didn't take you that long to get here," Akai noted, standing up and brushing off her plaid skirt.

"The Vongola entrance was in some place I didn't expect," Haru said, "and a lot closer than I thought it would be. Any luck?"

"You might say that," Akai said and held out a paper-wrapped bundle. "Found that sticking in one of the bushes against the wall—kind of like it fell out of the intruder's hair or something when they climbed the wall."

"Along the wall?" Haru repeated.

"Let me guess, you didn't think to look there?" Akai asked.

Haru felt her cheeks flush and she nodded shame-facedly.

"Everywhere Haru. Remember to look _everywhere_ just like you look at everything when you're chasing down a lead," Akai frowned.

"I'll remember," Haru said. "I've got to go grab the corpse of my old laptop. Spanner said that he might be able to do something with it so I can use it for Famiglia business instead of hoping my password lock holds on Dad's computer."

"Now?" Akai blinked. "Where's your escort?"

"Yamamoto had baseball practice for the junior league and Gokudera is with Judaime chasing after leads on the Trabuchet," Haru replied.

"The Trabuchet? Why?" Akai frowned.

"Because Gokudera is convinced that it's the Trabuchet that left the note," Haru said, "and wouldn't listen to me when I suggested otherwise though at least the others were at least willing to consider the possibility."

"Let's have lunch first before we head out," Akai said. "I'm starving. I haven't had anything since breakfast on the plane this morning."

"Oh jeez," Haru said. "We can grab a sandwich. I'll look at what you found while we're eating. I can kill two birds with one stone if we find something useful on it."

Haru unlocked the door and led the way in, setting her bag down on the table next to the door and taking off her shoes and slipping her feet into slippers. She made a bee line for the kitchen and pulled out the various sandwich makings and began to put together sandwiches for herself and Akai after realizing that she hadn't eaten anything since the meeting.

She and Akai took the sandwiches up to her room and settled at the table they usually studied at and Haru opened the item and stared at it. "Wow, it's beautiful," she murmured and then shook her head hard, she didn't have time to admire how pretty the clip was, the person who dropped it may be threatening Vongola Nono.

"Yeah, workmanship like that doesn't come cheap," Akai agreed. "This is something like I'd wear to a formal gathering in full kimono."

"It doesn't look like anything I see usually, it must be a special order," Haru said and turned the hair clip over in her hand, the edges of the lotus petals digging into her fingers as she looked it over.

Her eyes focused on a mark under the part that clipped into the hair and she frowned. "Akai, do you think you could recreate this mark so we could go ask someone at one of the shops in town that sells stuff like this."

Akai took the clip from her and looked it over. "Probably at least a fair facsimile of it anyway," she said. "Why don't we just bring the clip in though, it'll be easier?"

"And tip anyone who may be watching off that we found this," Haru said. "I'm going to treat this like someone really is threatening and I wouldn't just haul something like this around town if it put anyone in danger."

"Good point," Akai agreed and got up and moved to one of Haru's shelves and pulled out some scrap paper and a pencil.

She sat down and sketched the symbol out and handed it over to Haru for approval and the younger girl nodded. "Looks good, thank you Akai," she said.

They finished their meal and left the house a bit over an hour later, Haru hauling her old laptop in its worn case with her, she'd arranged to meet Spanner at one of the ramen stands near the Underground for the exchange. The blond boy was eating what looked to be his second bowl of ramen when they came up and nodded at Akai guardedly. "This is the laptop?" he asked as Haru handed the case over.

"Yes, please, and thank you," Haru said.

"Don't thank me yet. I have to see if I can do anything with it first," Spanner said.

"I'm sure you can," Haru beamed at him and Spanner gave her a bland look before turning his attention back to his ramen bowl.

The two girls headed off after Haru gave Spanner her email address so he could let her know what the prognosis on the laptop was when he got to it. Haru led the way to the swankier shops in Namimori that she only came to every once in a while and she found the shop that she was looking for. "Here we go, if anyone is going to know the maker's mark it's going to be Tomo-san."

They entered the shop and were immediately greeted by the young woman organizing one of the displays. "Good afternoon, Mara-san," Haru greeted her. "Is Tomo-san in today?"

"Yes, but she's in the middle of something right now. Is it something that I can help you with?" the woman queried.

"Maybe," Haru smiled. "I just saw a piece that I really liked in a resale shop, but it was already sold. The owner allowed me to copy the maker's mark since he didn't recognize it. It's not something Tomo-san usually makes but I was wondering if she'd know it,"

"May I see it?" Mara asked.

"Yes, please," Haru said. "I don't want to take up more of Tomo-san's time than I need to."

Mara took the paper from her and she frowned. "I think I recognize it, give me a sec," she said and headed for the counter.

Mara pulled out a book and opened it. She flipped through pages and stopped and then waved Haru and Akai over. "Is this the mark?" she asked, pointing.

"Yes, it is," Haru said.

"You aim high Miura-san," Mara laughed. "The person who holds that mark has exclusive clientele. She has excellent materials and workmanship and her usual prices reflect that. Would you like the address?"

"Yes, please," Haru said.

Mara grabbed some paper and wrote down the address and phone number as well as the name. "Here you go, Miura-san," she said. "Good luck getting her to even consider your commission."

Haru chuckled and bowed. "Thank you, Mara-san," she said. "I'll be back in a few weeks to talk to you about father's birthday present."

Mara smiled. "If you're getting something from her, you probably won't have the money for your father's gift," she laughed.

"Father comes first," Haru said, "but if I talk to her at least I'll find out how much I need to save if she'll even take it."

"True enough," Mara smiled and the bell rang announcing another customer. "Pardon me, Haru. Good morning, sir. How can I help you?"

Haru folded the paper. "Thank you."

They departed the shop and Haru unfolded it to look at the address when they stopped by a café for a drink. "Kyoto," Haru said and handed the paper over to Akai.

Akai looked it over. "I'll see what I can get from my sources there," she said.

"Won't I have to go through Madame Cho for that?" Haru said.

Shaking her head, Akai pulled out her phone. "I'm utilizing the sources for my own interest which just happens to align with yours."

Haru kept quiet while Akai spoke on the phone, leading the way back to her house. Gokudera was leaning against the wall next to the entrance when they arrived and straightened immediately as they came into sight. "How was hunting?" Haru asked.

"Turned out exactly like you said it would," Gokudera grumbled. "Not a peep about anything regarding the Trabuchet except every known agent has pulled out of Namimori."

"I won't say I told you so," Haru said and opened the gate. "Will you stay for dinner, Akai?"

Akai nodded and went back to her conversation and the three entered Haru's yard and went to the door. Haru went to open it and it swung open on its own, Akai's phone snapped shut and Haru reached for her kanzashi while Gokudera activated the Sistema CAI. "Don't destroy anything you don't have to," Haru murmured to Gokudera.

He gave her a dark look. "I won't," he said.

"Gokudera and I will go in first," Akai said, moving in front of Haru. "We've more experience in these matters than you."

Haru would have protested but the look from both of them silenced her and she nodded in acquiescence. They entered the house and Haru followed when they called an all clear and glanced around herself and found everything oddly intact. There was a sound behind her and she began to turn and found herself grabbed from behind.

"Pardon the intrusion, Miura-san," a voice Haru couldn't identify as male or female murmured and she felt the prick of a needle and everything went dark.


	6. Ch 5: Scarlet Smile

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Blessed Yule, Happy Kwanzah, Happy Hannakah-whatever you celebrate this season (and if you don't celebrate Happy Thursday ^_^). Here's chapter five.

Please read and enjoy ^_^

Next update will be around January 8th ^_^

~ Yuki

* * *

><p><strong>Target 05-03: Scarlet Smile<strong>

"Ah, you're awake. I told Maiko to only administer about half the dosage in the syringe."

Haru blinked and immediately tried moving and found her hands bound behind the wooden back of the chair she was sitting in. She clenched her hands together and lifted her head slowly and found herself confronted by a shadowed figure. The light coming in was directed in such a way that the only thing she could see of her captor was shimmering scarlet lips. There was a soft rustle of fabric that sounded like one of Madame Cho's full kimono and Haru cocked her head and flinched at the resulting pain.

"What do you want?" Haru managed, her voice was hoarse and her throat felt raw.

"Just to satisfy some idle curiosity," the woman said silkily.

She moved forward into the light and Haru found her head pushed down before she could actually see what the woman looked like. "You don't have permission to look at the Lady."

The voice that spoke was the same as the one she'd heard before the injection and she frowned. "Lady…no, Emri wouldn't wear a kimono like that…" Haru mumbled to herself.

"You are correct," the woman said. "What is your exact position in the Vongola Famiglia, Miura Haru-san?"

Haru's eyes narrowed and she pressed her lips tightly together.

The silence went on for what felt like forever and it was all Haru could do not to just start babbling to fill it. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood and focused on that bit of pain and the metallic taste that filled her mouth.

There was another swishing of cloth and a finger found her chin and forced Haru's eyes up, but she couldn't make the woman out in the brightness of the overhead light. "Do you think your silence hides anything from me, Miura Haru?" the woman asked.

A chain unraveled and the ring that Haru had been wearing when she was captured dangled in front of her swinging idly back and forth. Haru couldn't help but follow it with her eyes and felt herself falling into a lull and clenched her eyes shut and fisted her hands hard enough for her nails to dig into the fleshy part of her palm, letting the pain kill the lassitude that was slipping over her.

"Stubborn child," the woman sighed. "How long do you think that's going to last? Every moment you don't answer my questions is another moment that slips away between you and the Vongola Nono's arrival in Japan."

Haru wanted to explode into a rant about how she would never tell the woman anything and how all she had to do was hold out until her friends figured out what happened and tracked her down. However, she felt as though she would lose something if she chose to speak at this particular moment and remained quiet. She opened her eyes and focused instead on the hand wielding the chain with the ring instead of the ring. The nails on the woman's hand were also crimson and Haru admired the manicure for a moment, trying to keep her thoughts away from her current situation.

"Well, I suppose that trick isn't going to work."

The ring swung upwards, landing neatly in the woman's palm and she closed her fingers over it. "I suppose we'll see how long that silence lasts when you are faced with hunger and thirst," she said. "Shall we go, Maiko?"

"As you wish, Mother."

Haru watched the woman depart. The person that followed the woman was dressed in loose clothing but had long hair, leading Haru to believe that they were female. After the two had exited the light above her went out plunging everything into darkness and she felt panic try to close in for a moment, but she took a deep breath and forced it out. After a moment she focused on her current situation.

She was in a chair, but she wasn't tied to it. Her hands were behind her back and it felt like plastic around her wrists. She twisted her wrists a bit and felt the teeth of the zip ties bite in and relaxed. Of all the things to restrain her…

Dani had run a similar simulation to this with her something close to this at least three different times. The first time Haru had panicked and been completely useless, but by the last time it was just something else she'd learned to do. On more than one occasion, she'd been forced to wear wristbands to conceal the damage from those who would notice and worry.

She forced herself to relax further and then began to carefully maneuver her hands. She worked slowly, gently working until she managed to free one of her thumbs from the restraint and then it was easy. There was a barely audible _clack_ as the zip tie hit the concrete floor and she rose from the chair. She rotated her wrists and hissed a bit as the resulting sting from one of them, she'd probably cut herself on the tie.

She went over what the room looked like with the light in her mind and knew that it wasn't a large room and that a table took up a large portion of it. Her eyes landed on the tiny strip of light that denoted the door and she moved towards it, her bare feet making no noise on the ground. Her hair brushed over her shoulders and she tucked it behind her ear with a muttered curse. The elastic band wouldn't have really been a very good weapon; they could have at least left that. She reached for the hem of her shirt and yanked sharply, listening to the ripping fabric as the strip of cloth separated from the rest of the shirt. She tied the scrap into her hair tightly hoping it would keep her hair out of her face for the time being and then ventured to the door.

She scowled a bit as she ran her fingers over it, the door wasn't very sturdy. She pressed her ear to the wood and realized that it was also very thin and she could hear a muttered conversation outside. She pulled back away from the door to figure out her next plan. Theoretically there couldn't be more than one or two men guarding the door. If she made enough noise with the table one of them would likely come in to investigate, but that would likely result in the light being flipped on leaving her in a moment of blindness and that would be long enough for them to get her again.

Haru moved and picked up the chair she'd been sitting in and moved towards the door and in the last few steps dragged the chair over the floor making a very loud noise. She clenched her eyes shut as the door was opened and slammed the chair at the first man who came through and then tried to scramble past him while he was still dazed from the hit. There wasn't a second man waiting outside and Haru just took off running and hoped that she didn't run into anyone before her eyes adjusted to the light.

When her vision cleared she spotted a cleaning closet and ducked in even as she heard booted feet hitting the floor. It wouldn't take long for them to figure out where she'd gone, especially if the guard hadn't been knocked unconscious by the chair—she hadn't stayed long enough to figure it out. She found the handle of a mop and a quick check found that it was one of the ones that she could easily detach the mophead from and turn it into a staff of sorts, which she did. She grabbed a tub of floorwax and loosened the cap as she listened to people run by. After the immediate rush, she listened for a moment more and then burst out of the cleaning closet and threw the bucket on the ground and took off with her makeshift weapon.

The first man she ran into was shocked just long enough for her to get in a couple good strikes and run again.

Haru turned into another corridor and found it empty, but she knew it likely wouldn't be empty for long. Places like these always had security cameras, but she needed to find some place where she could catch her breath and formulate a plan. She had no way of contacting anyone currently and she didn't want to have to requisition another ring from the Vongola, assuming they'd let a failure like her have one again anyway…

She dashed away frustrated tears and took another deep breath to compose herself and moved down the hall a little slower since she couldn't hear any pursuit currently. She hurried down the corridor and went to one of the windows and realized that she was a few floors up in some kind of large building. She found the emergency stairwell and slipped through the door and started to make her way down the stairs. If it came out in an underground garage it would be easier to find concealment.

She finally reached the bottom of the stairs and burst through the door, only to come face to face with the barrel of a gun.

"Nice try, Miura-san."

It was the same voice and viewing the person from the front, they were definitely female. The overshirt she wore was loose, but it was open in the front revealing a halter top over a pair of loose khaki cargo pants. Haru glared at her and before she could think, she kicked out and her foot came into contact with the girl's wrist and the gun went flying, skittering across the concrete.

"You're no match for me, girl," the other smirked. "I've had a lot more practice."

Haru didn't answer just sprang at her, trying to get in a few strikes before the other could get the better of her, but the tables were quickly turned and Haru found herself slammed into the ground her arm twisted painfully behind her.

"Enough Maiko."

It was the voice of the woman who'd been interrogating her.

The pain eased up and she was forced to her feet and felt something dig into her back. She met the gaze of the woman full on and then the elegant woman began to clap.

"Impressive Miura Haru-san," the woman smirked. "Let her go, Maiko."

"But—"

"Maybe next time you'll learn to dodge better," the older woman said.

"Who are you?" Haru demanded.

"Someone who has a great interest in gauging the abilities of Nadeshiko's daughter," the woman said. "I have to say though it was rather unrefined, you actually were pretty impressive. Obviously your training isn't done."

"And you're going to see to it that it's never done?" Haru asked.

The woman's eyes widened and she began to laugh. "Hardly," she said. "In fact, I'd really like to refine that talent of yours Miura Haru-san. It's not often I find such a rough diamond that can be polished into so many facets."

"They're going to come for me you know," Haru said.

"That fox girl and Hurricane Bomb Hayato?" the woman repeated and then laughed. "No they won't. By now Sawada Iemitsu-san has intercepted them and informed them that I have no intention of harming you. And they'll have orders from Reborn to leave it well enough."

"And I'm supposed to trust you?" Haru asked skeptically.

"No, darling. If you trusted me right off you'd be going against every single lesson you learned from Shirokaia wouldn't you?" she asked. "You can call me Lady Tomi and for the next two weeks, you're going to be here in my facility learning as much as I can cram into that head of yours."

"But…I have classes and…" Haru said faintly.

"In the end I think this is going to be much more useful than spending two weeks in a remedial class you really don't need," 'Lady Tomi' said. "This is not an option, Miura-san. You're going to need what I can teach you a lot more than you're going to need to know how to solve the calculus equation. Besides, it's your Kudaime's orders…"

As the words left her mouth, the kimono-clad woman produced a letter and handed it to her and Haru nearly dropped it as the orange of the Sky Flames burst from the Vongola Seal. She opened it and written in Italian (with a Japanese translation beneath it signed by Reborn) were orders that she was to listen to her new tutor and walk away ten times stronger than when she went in.


	7. Ch 6: A Familiar Flower

**Author's Note: **Happy New Year! I hope that 2015 is an amazing year for all of you ^_^

Here's chapter six, though a bit later in the day than I normally put it up (had a bunch of errands to run today).

Next update will be around 01/22/15.

Take care!

~ Yuki

* * *

><p><strong>Target 06-03: Familiar Flower<strong>

Gokudera's fist slammed into the wall of his apartment and he glared at the cell phone on the table that wasn't ringing. It had been just over two weeks since Haru had been taken right under his nose and there wasn't a fucking thing he could do to rescue her. He'd gone after the black car that pulled away from Haru's house with Haru's friend from the Hanatachi Clan, but they hadn't even managed to get a license plate before the car vanished. Akai had informed him Haru had come across a lead that would take them to Kyoto and said that if they couldn't find anything around Namimori that'd be the next place to go.

They'd torn Namimori apart and found nothing to lead them to where Haru was taken. Putting their money together, they had enough to purchase tickets to Kyoto, but they'd been greeted at the platform by Iemitsu Sawada and Reborn. The head of CEDEF had informed them that Haru was being taken to a tutor and that they would find an unpleasant surprise waiting if they tried to pursue her. Iemitsu had also said that she would be back in about two weeks.

The two weeks had been up for three days.

Haru had managed to send him a text to inform him she was fine and that she'd be back soon, but that failed to settle the roiling worry in his stomach that something happened to her. Chrome had returned from her mission a week ago and Gokudera moved most of his things back to his apartment since his primary reasons for being there were no longer a factor. Haru wasn't there for him to protect and, with Chrome there, he no longer needed to housesit at the Miuras.

He'd managed to force himself through the study sessions with Judaime and the baseball idiot, but Yamamoto seemed to be distracted lately as well. Gokudera still failed at trying to read what was behind the baseball idiot's easy going expression.

Gokudera snarled another curse and snatched his phone and his jacket along with his usual arsenal. He slammed out of his apartment and came up short at the sight of Akai leaning against the railing next to the stairs.

"Ah, you're ready," she said and shifted her plaid backpack on her back. "I've already got the tickets to Kyoto."

"How did you know I was leaving?" Gokudera scowled.

"I've actually been keeping an eye on your apartment for the last two days, you held out longer than I figured you would," Akai said. "Someone else was moving before you were."

"Who—" Gokudera began.

"Over here, Akai."

Gokudera's head snapped over to where Yamamoto was leaning against a taxi. "What the hell are you doing here?" Gokudera demanded.

"I'm going to find Haru," Yamamoto said. "The Hermosillo Familia isn't going to be buying our excuses for too much longer. I can only juggle them for so long."

"Why the hell are you juggling the Hermosillo?" Gokudera demanded.

"Because I was the one at the meeting with Haru the first time," Yamamoto said. "Get in. The train leaves soon."

The three teenagers piled into the taxi and Akai gave instructions to the taxi driver and they pulled away.

"Do you think they'll be there again?" Gokudera asked.

"I guess we'll see when we get there," Akai said. "I don't think they'll intercept us this time though."

Gokudera wished he could light up a cigarette as he found himself staring out the driver's side back seat. They arrived at the station and there was no one on the platform this time except travelers. The three exited the taxi and Akai dug into her backpack and pulled out their tickets while Yamamoto paid the fare. "Here," she said. "I couldn't get us seats together, but I'm sure you two can handle yourself for the trip."

Their train wasn't departing for a bit longer and Gokudera took the opportunity to light up his cigarette and drew a deep drag from it, checking his cell phone again to see if there was any word. He'd tried to call Haru a few times, but the calls had immediately gone to voice mail and she hadn't called back. He sent a text to Tsuna informing him that they were going to Kyoto to find Haru just before they boarded the train.

They got off the train in Kyoto, Akai had an address she'd acquired in Namimori and they were headed for a jewelers' shop when their path was blocked by a woman in a loose jacket and khaki pants, she held a gun on them. "You didn't ask permission to come into Ishida Clan territory, Vongola brats," she stated flatly. "I would have thought better of Cho's whelp as well…"

Akai smirked and produced a bit of red silk cloth embroidered with gold Nadeshiko. "I assure you, I have permission," Akai said, "and permission to bring them along."

The girl snatched the cloth and spat on the ground at Akai's feet.

"Take them," she ordered glancing at the men behind her. "If you resist you're going to endanger far too many civilians and I'm afraid your precious Tenth won't be very happy about it. Don't harm Akai; Lady Tomi will be unhappy if she really did get permission."

"The Scarlet Witch?" Gokudera gasped.

"Shut up Vongola cur," the woman ordered.

"She's going to be unhappy to know that you manhandled the Tenth Vongola Storm and Rain Guardians when my permission extended to them," Akai noted, "but suit yourself. I know you always do, Maiko."

Maiko whirled away and they found themselves guided into a large black car and blindfolded.

"What the hell is going on, Akai?" Gokudera demanded.

"Calm down Gokudera," the girl ordered. "You too, Yama—"

"I am calm," Yamamoto said. "Being blindfolded seems to be standard rules in this game."

"It's not a game," Gokudera snarled.

"Yes, it is," Yamamoto said. "Mafia politics is a game in its own way. I've been studying more since Haru's been gone."

"Don't bother. I'll be accompanying Haru from now on to any of those meetings," Gokudera snapped.

"Not until you get that temper of yours under control, Gokudera," Akai said. "Haru said that according to rumors in the future she saw, you were an outstanding right-hand man to Vongola Decimo, but right now I simply don't see it."

"Fuck off," Gokudera said flatly and fell silent—his worry for Haru intensifying with their reception.

Haru flinched as she sat up, her muscles protesting as she forced herself to shift so she could get out of bed. Her bare feet came in contact with the thick rug on her temporary quarters in the Ishida Compound and she stood up. With deliberate steps, she crossed the floor; barely paying attention when it gave way to wooden boards and stripped away the nightclothes she'd been given. Haru went to the dressing table and pulled out the makeup and settled down to apply it. After putting the make-up on, she worked her way into the heavy ceremonial kimono that Lady Tomi had pushed on her. She tried to avoid rubbing the material against the make-up, if she got anything on the kimono she would be hand-washing it after her lessons and wouldn't be allowed to sleep until it was dry.

For the last two weeks or so, this had been her life. She'd had etiquette and proper conduct drilled into her head and was punished when she messed up. She'd been taught to listen to everything being said because in between inane bits of small talk, Lady Tomi would insert very important information that would assist Haru in her lessons after she took the kimono off. In the afternoons, Haru would remove the kimono and dress in workout clothes and be forced through another grueling lesson where she would have to complete a 'mission' before she would be allowed to eat dinner. If she accomplished her mission in a satisfactory time, she would dress in evening attire and join Lady Tomi and Maiko for dinner and another lesson in etiquette. Afterwards, Lady Tomi would enlist her help in sorting through the various information her network gave her. Haru knew that the information that she saw was far from complete, Lady Tomi held her cards too close to her chest for that, but it opened a different world to her and she started to put the puzzle pieces together to firm up her own network.

She went to the room Lady Tomi designated for her briefing room for the day's assignments and knocked on the door. She was acknowledged and told to enter and found Lady Tomi sipping tea while going through some papers. Lady Tomi rose from the cushion she was sitting on and Haru noted that Maiko was missing from the morning's meeting which was unusual. "Good morning, Miura-san," Lady Tomi said. "Today, you will be serving some visitors. You will recognize them, but they are not to recognize you. They are well known to you and you to them, but they are to be left doubting whether or not it is really you. If you succeed, you will be allowed to return to Namimori tomorrow. If you do not succeed, well, let's just say a lot of your current plans will be derailed."

Haru inclined her head. "As you command," she said and bowed deeply.

"I have utmost faith you will not disappoint me, Haru," Lady Tomi smiled.

Haru backed out of the room, not lifting her eyes until she was over the threshold and the door was shut. She turned and saw Maiko smirking at her and shivered. She really did not like Maiko Ishida at all; the girl was utterly ruthless and as frightening in her own way as some of the others that Tsuna and the others had fought. "How may I help you?" Haru asked, forcing her voice to politeness.

"You'll follow me to the audience room," she said. "Our guests await."

Haru nodded and followed the dark-haired woman through the halls to the room where they usually had dinner on the nights she was able to join Lady Tomi and Maiko.

They stopped in the doorway and Haru's breath caught as she saw a familiar head of silver hair at the table. "If they figure out who you are without a doubt, you'll not be seeing them for a very long time Tomoe."

Haru immediately configured the personality into her head to match the name prompt and took a deep breath. She just had to make sure that Gokudera saw Tomoe Ishida not Haru Miura when she served him.

She ghosted into the room and barely kept her face calm when she realized who the other two guests were along with Gokudera. It didn't take much to see that Akai and Yamamoto were far more composed than Gokudera and it would be harder to fool them than it would Gokudera because of his state of mind.

"Good morning, I apologize for the lateness of the tea," she said.

She hadn't perfected Tomoe's voice—it was supposed to be slightly lower than her own with a touch of breathiness, but that was something that would take months to master.

Gokudera jumped at the sound of the voice and turned to regard the woman who entered sharply. Even though it wasn't quite right, he was pretty sure he knew that voice and the slight form swallowed by the layers of ceremonial kimono was familiar. "H—" he began and the tip of a pair of heavy boots was driven into his shin.

"What the hell was that for, Akai?" he demanded.

"I am Ishida Tomoe," the girl said. "Thank you for your patience."

Haru took a deep breath and settled down at the head of the table to begin preparing the tea. Her tutor had been somewhat surprised to find out Haru had already taken lessons to perform a Japanese Tea Ceremony and easily recalled it when Lady Tomi had put the implements in front of her. She kept her conversation to a minimum working to put the tea in front of each of them before settling down and then the test began in earnest.

It took every ounce of control she had to pretend that the three in front of her were strangers—inquiries about Tsuna and everyone else on the tip of her tongue, but she managed it. Finally, there was another knock on the door and Maiko entered. "My mother will be here shortly. Tomoe, you're done here."

Haru gritted her teeth against her immediate urge to rail at Maiko and rose gracefully, taking that moment to compose herself before she spoke again. "Thank you for coming," she said. "Please enjoy the rest of your visit."

She glided out of the room and met Lady Tomi's eyes. "You did well, Haru," she said. "They likely recognized you, but they did a good job of keeping it out of the conversation. You pass. Go take off your makeup and put your normal clothes on and join us for lunch—I'm sure your friends are anxious to see you."

The smile that Lady Tomi showed Haru this time softened up her entire expression and didn't seem the least bit threatening and Haru bowed deeply.

"Keep up your practices when you go to Namimori and don't forget to work your way through the things I've given you," Lady Tomi said. "You'll be coming back here for more lessons likely over Winter Break in between your final studies for school. There is still more I need to teach you, but even I can only cram so much into a bit over two weeks."

Haru nodded and hurried past Lady Tomi after getting permission and managed to make it all the way to her room without tripping over the hems of her kimono. She stripped out of the kimono and hung it up carefully then moved to the bathroom to wash away the makeup. She dressed in a denim skirt, tights, and a flowered yellow top provided by Lady Tomi and shoved her feet into comfortable brown boots.

After dressing, she bolted down the hall to the door and knocked on it politely; knowing Lady Tomi would likely get angry if she didn't follow proper etiquette even in normal clothing. "Enter."

Haru opened the door and watched as Gokudera immediately sprang up from the table. "Haru?" he said. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you? What—"

Haru pressed a finger to his lips and smiled. "I'm fine, Gokudera, and no I wasn't hurt any more than what the training required."

"Please join us, Miura-san," Lady Tomi said. "I'm sure you're anxious to hear all about what's going on in Namimori from more than the reports you've been helping me sort."


End file.
